The Simple Life

Yesterday, my needs were simple.
I was to find some kind of fuel to burn in the little stove, not much larger than an ashtray, which Alex from California sent in one of his "goodie" packages from there.
I feel like I am living in a third world country (Downtown New Orleans) and am getting humanitarian aid from a wealthy nation (Bay Area, California) sometimes.
A trip to Rouse's Market (the big new one) produced no Sue sighting, and no fuel for the stove, either.
I don't want to risk Kerosene fume poisoning, a campsite gasoline explosion, or losing the stove when it shoots off like a rocket and lands on the roof of the Roosevelt Hotel, by experimenting with flammables in the little stove not much larger than an ashtray.
Sue has been missing out on some good food, lately, in my opinion.
My Latest Brainstorms

Could have thousands of One Man Bands
working "under" him, using
"Mr. Jojangles" licenced gear, but
fears the competition that it would create!

Brainstorm #1. Dress up like Sony Bono. Find a competent female singer, who is willing to dress like Cher. Then learn "I Got You, Babe," but with her singing Sony's part, and myself doing my, servicable in my opinion; Cher impression.

Brainstorm #2. Take detailed espionage-ish photos of Mr. Joejangles, the One Man Band's apparatus, and make figures and diagrams and patent them, and by showing a video of Joe (with his tip jar within the frame, of course) playing the thing, try to get a bank to lend money and a shop willing to assemble the things.
Joe wouldnt' even have to recognise it as his design if it were "modified" a bit...hmmm.
Joe hasn't really expressed any interest in anything beyond the scope of himself just travelling around and playing the thing. He doesn't want competition where he goes, from another One Man Band, playing a similar rig, and that is what he fears would happen, if he were to go into the same business, himself.
That might happen anyway, to poor Joe. Even if he doesn't patent the idea and/or the exact design of his rig, what is to stop from someone else (me?) from doing it. Joe could find himself competing with a One Man Band on every corner, and every one of them playing a "Daniel" brand apparatus LOL!!!
Other than that, it has been quiet.
Today, I will try again to get fuel for the little stove.
I will also try to get a strap for the Jasmine.
Humanitarian Aid
Alex from California is sparing me from having to deal with Mr. Joejangles on a neck brace type holder thing for a harmonica. He has informed me that he is sending one, along with a harmonica which fits in it. The first harmonica that he sent is of an unorthidox shape and will not fit into just any neck brace holder type thing...

In The Hands of One Man

Preface
About three weeks ago, when I ran into Sue, she was reading a book entitled "Human Sacrifice," and as that title might suggest, the book was an historical overview of the practice.
I thought it cute that Sue was using the book to put herself to sleep, and I would have taken a picture of her zonked out with "Human Sacrifice" next to her head and labelled it "Sue's taste in bedtime stories..." if the Sprint LG was charging up.
Another Free Recipe
Then, I started developing a mysterious craving for a special coconut milk based dish that I once created, and started to eat a lot more coconut, ginger, rice noodles etc. This was when Sue and I were "together."
We are "off again" right now, but even last night, I poured coconut milk into a bowl, added a lot of ginger, some black pepper and some sesame oil; crumbled in some cornflour burrito-shell type bread, and then added the "crowning" touch by inserting KA-ME gluten-free Brown Rice Crisps (teriyake), and a pinch of garlic salt.
I then let the concoction "stand" to allow the crisps to soften for as long as I could stand it, myself, and had one of the best gourmet meals since the night before, when it came out splendidly, but not quite as excellently, as last night.
Then, Sue and I split up, as I recall, and I found a book in the free book rack at the Rebuild Center, entitled "Hawaii," and as that title might suggest, it is about that island. It is by James Mitchner, I believe and is based upon the actual history, at least as it has been recorded.
So, I am reading about Hawaii, and about how coconuts floated thousands of miles to beach themselves there, but couldn't grow for thousands of years because the soil, while having plenty of iron, lacked other nutrients etc., when, soon the book is focusing upon the first inhabitants, who came from places like Bora Bora, and who were ardent practicioners of, you guessed it; human sacrifice!
And so, I have concluded that Sue might be doing some kind of "voodu hex" thing where she is trying to re-order the universe so that I can't escape thinking of her. The connection between her reading about the history of human sacrifice, and then the coconuts, then the book about Hawaii, which starts with human sacrifice as a main theme is just too uncanny.

Yesterday
I set about yesterday,
to find a harmonica holding neck brace type thing.
After discovering that the Guitar Bar on Decatur Street was out of that product, and remembering vaguely seeing a pretty expensive price upon one, the last time they had it in stock, I decided to take a grass roots approach and walk around informing every street musician who plays a harp, that I am in the market for a harp holding neck brace type thing, in hopes that one of them would have an extra one which he might be willing to part with.
The first one that I encountered was Joe, "Mr. Joejangles," The One Man Band, who told me that he had an old neck brace type thing, somewhere in his van, and offered to retrieve it for me and sell it to me for 10 bucks, as soon as he took a break.
I was excited at the prospect of adding a harp to my sound as soon as that evening.
Upon further introspection, Joe thought about times when he had attracted the attention of the law, by rummaging through is own van, dressed as he does, and in the interest of avoiding a similar irritation told me that it may be a while before he has a chance to do his rummaging at a car wash or some place less suspicious than the French Quarter.

"I'll Take It From Here"

The Guy At Lafitt's
Last night,

The stools were in about the same position last night,
as in this "stock" photo of Lafitt's

planning upon knocking off early, forgetting that my court appearance was not in the morning, but at 3 p.m., I played for a while on Decatur Street, thought I sounded pretty well, and scraped up about 6 bucks. This was 6 bucks more than I was expecting on a Wednesday night, well before Mardi Gras season is to start.
I then went up to Bourbon Street, just to see how busy it was, and just in time to run into a guy, who invited me for a beer at Lafitt's Blacksmith Shop, which is a falsely advertised bar (shown). (I didn't even see any horse shoing equipment in the place).
He bought us each a couple of Abita Amber beers, and told me, at one point in our conversation that he would be willing to invest in getting me a small amp, microphone and a pickup to go in my guitar, and a cart to pull it all around in, so that I could at least double my income, afford to live outside the downtown area, and eventually join the upper eschelon of street performers who actually make a "living" doing it.

"Mr. Joe Jangles," previously referred to here as "The
One Man Band," performing in Saint Augustine, which is
where I met him.
He will drive his van to Canada, for example, for a certain
festival, and come back a week later with almost a
thousand more American dollars than he left with,
for merely playing a 3 day stint.
He could teach me how to make a similar rig, and I
could make over 50K per year, just like him.
"A lot of people don't follow through after they realise
just how physically demanding it is," said the 58 year old
to me recently.

There are guy's who I am just as good a musician as, who sit and play right in the middle of Royal Street in the areas that are barricaded at each end, making the street like a "pedestrian mall,"on busy days, who reasonably expect to make about a hundred bucks for their efforts. They have little battery powered amps, microphones and harmonicas, if possible.
I was telling the guy this, when he suggested that I "sell stock" in myself, by coming up with a total dollar amount for the equipment I need and then dividing it into promisory notes of some kind which I could subsequently pay dividends upon. I don't know if he was speaking metaphorically.
It sounds a lot like borrowing money from whomever I can with the promise to pay it back.
I went out and played some more on Bourbon Street, taking my second Abita with me. The money was sparse and I went off around midnight, complaining that I had been "paid in beer" that night.
Harmonica Added
Yesterday, I tuned the guitar to the harmonica, which Alex from California had sent me, and managed to sound good using only the notes that my mouth was stuck upon. I hadn't tried playing it along with the guitar yet, for lack of a neck strap for it, but I got the notion that I could do something using only the left-most three holes as a simple accompaniment; and it worked!
I am really looking forward to adding it to my sound, the way a juggler might want to add bowling pins to his feat, to keep it challenging for himself, and to develope his abilities. And to make more money juggling...
Court This Afternoon
I go to court soon.
I'm going to make the 20 minute walk, in order to save the bus fare of $1.50.
I am hoping that I can pass the paperwork over to attorney Mary Howell, who will then tell me; "I'll take it from here, you won't even need to show up in court on the 29th of February."